[Skywise]

(04-27-2015, 11:27 AM)Island Chris Wrote: https://www.eeri.org/wp-content/uploads/..._Nepal.pdf

"The region has seen four major earthquakes of magnitudes greater than 8.0 on the Richter scale within the last
100 years"

This statement from the above struck me as odd, as I had done a USGS map search for quakes within 1000km of the current event, and found only one M8 quake.... lemme go look again real quick....

OK... redid my search... opened it up to 2000km which is ridiculous.... but I found only 6 quakes larger than the current M7.8, and only one of them (an M8) was in Nepal.

However, despite my nitpicking, the region was/is/will be in dire need of infrastructure improvements.

Here's a map of the larger region, all quakes in the USGS catalog of M7.0 and larger. I've marked the magnitudes of quakes along the Himalayan front, and all quakes equal to and larger than the current event.

   

(04-27-2015, 11:27 AM)Island Chris Wrote: http://mcedc.colorado.edu/sites/default/...%20(2).pdf

This one I only scanned through as it's nearly 70 pages. But there are two maps in there for quake scenarios for which study and planning are apparently based upon. Interesting that the two scenarios have large quakes to either side of Kathmandu, but not under the city as just happened. Again, I only scanned the article so I may have missed something.

(04-27-2015, 11:27 AM)Island Chris Wrote: http://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article...2_4080.pdf

A short article describing a method of 'jacketing' the outer and inner walls of unreinforced brick buildings. it was done to at least one building as they show pictures of the method in progress.

I wonder how this and any other buildings using this method fared compared to their unjacketed neighbors. I'm sure there will be some studies coming out in the next year or two.

(04-27-2015, 11:27 AM)Island Chris Wrote: http://www.preventionweb.net/english/mul...843&hid=60

This video is well worth the 6-1/2 minutes as it explains the dangers and shows some more of the retrofitting technique being used on a specific school. Again, I'm curious how well it worked out.

(04-27-2015, 11:27 AM)Island Chris Wrote: But that article is scary:
http://www.unisdr.org/archive/29755

Agreed... scary:

"Conservative estimates are that the next big earthquake could result in 100,000 dead"

Brian